Another reminder that Reggie Miller was a *****, is a *****, and will always be a bit.ch.

Very bad third quarter

Let's gooooooo

I didn't see the series line at the last minute when Giannis was in the line up. What did it close at about pre-series?

hard to beat a team shooting 50% from 3

Milwaukee +160

The Suns are a really good team.

They probably don't beat a healthy Lakers or a healthy Brooklyn, but I'm willing to put them as the third best team ITL.

Maybe a Kawhi LAC beats them, but if Kawhi is there, I don't think guys like Reggie or ***** ass Beverely or even Pandemic P elevate their games like they did once Kawhi went out.

I'd put a healthy nuggets team in that discussion too

I had it....Connaughton 3ball at 1:46 was the key to sink it, triggered all that late fouling....CP 3 off 2 offensive boards at 4 min didn't help either.

Suns getting pretty thin if Craig is done....I think Bucks smash em gm 3, they got 1 good complete offensive game in them in this series. Giannis will probably shoot 25 FTs at home as well.

Another bad offensive game for the Bucks though, Giannis incredible 3rd quarter and like a 35% OReb rate kept them from struggling too much but Holiday/Middleton were bad and Connaughton basically has to play 30 minutes because they have no one else to go small with.

haha solid GURRRAAANTEEE

under always a good sweat tho, sweet to look up and see Giannis compared to Jordan for some kind of point record lol

I thought about them too, but I still think this Suns team is better.

Whats good, dont think Ive been on here in like 6 months. Figured Id join in and drop this. For those who took part in last years version and are interested in trying this out again, enjoy. Player values are different obviously....although many wont change that much in just 1 yr. Kept the rules pretty brief if anybody is interested but needs clarification/has questions on something feel free to ask

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...HRs/edit#gid=0

Healthy Suns vs healthy Lakers to me is a coinflip I think people are always excessively confident when talking about injury hypotheticals saying "If player X didnt get hurt his team wins". Think healthy Clips beat the healthy Suns, bad matchup for Phx. Brooklyn wouldve beat the Suns I think also.

Unpopular take but I think the pre Murray injury Nuggets have gotten pretty overrated post Murray injury mostly because people feel bad for them. Never seen a team get more hype for some brief random March reg season run, and even that included 2nd half collapses like vs Boston or GSW. I also just have never been a Aaron Gordon believer and nothing he did in Denver this year changed my views. Think Suns wouldve still beat the Murray Nuggets in 5 or 6, defense wouldve still gotten just shredded.

Also side note I think the Bucks played fine tonight, in some ways I thought they outplayed the Suns. Definitely were able to impose themselves physically to a reasonable degree and execute their gameplan in that sense. This game wouldnt concern me if I were a Bucks fan in isolation. The problem is they are now down 2-0 and even if you think the Bucks are better than the Suns hypothetically(I think they are even) winning 4 in 5 vs any really good team is very hard. Do think they have a chance though and I think Bucks win game 3 by double digits. As a side note I thought not playing Lopez down the stretch was really stupid, Brook's been the Bucks 2nd best player in the postseason.

Suns have been the best team in the league all year.

Middleton/Holiday were 12/37 2/9 from 3 3 FT's

That's a far cry from fine and a lot of the shots they were getting weren't great looks either. Not awful looks, but them having games like this is par for the course at this point.

Seems like Connaughton just has to play vs this team, otherwise there just isn't enough spacing or foot speed on D vs a drive/kick team.

Downsizing was a big mistake by Budenholzer their best minutes are with Lopez on the court. I dont think Pat solves much, but if its between him and PJ Tucker Pat may very well be the better option of the two here.

Middleton's shot profile and how he plays is tailor made to be inconsistent and volatile. The no 2 on this team was always going to be a weakness relative to title winners(even if they come back in this series) but it's just hard to overcome having a weak 2nd best player for title winning standards and a lack of good depth.

This is a lot of fun folks if you don't remember from last year or if you missed it! Much recommended for an interesting and fun exercise!

I tried out a Giannis-centric roster in the spirit of the Bucks making the FINALS:

Giannis $46
Bobby Portis $4
Mikal Bridges $15
Duncan Robinson $10
Terry Rozier $10
Torrey Craig $3
Justise Winslow $4
Obi Toppin $4

So basically 8-man rotation for important games/playoffs with (possibly playing Marquesse Chris also some meaningful mins):
Kevin Knox $1
Trey Burke $1
Alex Len $1
Marquesse Chriss $1

Not sure how hypothetical the Lakers comparison is. We saw games 2 and 3 of the 1st round series with LeBron and AD on the court and it was pretty comfortable. Contest was back and forth in game 4 the 1st half, then AD went down, didn’t return and that was that.

As for the Clippers, well, that is a hypothetical but no Kawhi is an absolute series shifter.

But listen, the Suns are going to win this title. That’s the result, and they earned it. You can’t blame them for what was put infront of them one series to the next. Most people won’t remember the context in time, they never do.

Jayson Tatum + Sabonis Team:

Domontas Sabonis $17
Obi Toppin $4
Jayson Tatum $35
Lonzo Ball $10
Terry Rozier $9

Kevin Huerter $11
Bobby Portis $4
Coby White $6
Marquesse Chriss $1


Kevin Knox $1
Trey Burke $1
Alex Len $1

If we really want to play the injury game the Suns couldve easily won game 2 if Chris Paul wasnt playing on one shoulder. You have a guy in CP3 who's averaged 26/9 since the first round who was rendered to averaging like 8 points a game that series of course it goes very differently for him if he were healthy. Game 4 the Suns were up 5 before AD got hurt end of the first half and AD was playing horribly that game before he got hurt was a carbon copy of game 1. The Suns literally didnt miss a shot in game 5, I dont buy that you put AD and a 100% LeBron in there suddenly its making up for such a massive gap that night nights like those when a team comes out and shoots like Phoenix did you usually just end up losing regardless.

So yeah, based off how the series result played out, I would actually use that as evidence for the opposite of what you are suggesting.

First one I came up with:

$8 Nance $37 Zion $13 Hayward $22 LaVine $8 Royce ONeale Bench: $12

Alternative if you want more defense swap LaVine+ONeale for Paul George/Crowder for $1 more

Got a few other came up with this morning

Doncic team:

Luka Donic $48 DeAndre Hunter $12 Gordon Hayward $13 Mike Conley $12 Brook Lopez $5 Bench: $10

Giannis team:

Serge Ibaka $5 Giannis $46 Jamal Murray $20 Josh Richardson $5 Kyle Lowry $13 Bench: $11

Jokic team:

Jokic $46 Larry Nance $8 Justin Holiday $5 CJ McCollum $14 OG Anunoby $16 Bench: $11

Embiid team

Joel Embiid $40 Otto Porter $4 Reggie Bullock $6 Jrue Holiday $16 Zach LaVine $22 Bench: $12

PG- Ben Simmons (18), Tyrese Maxey (7), Trey Burke (1)
SG- OG Anunoby (16), Desmond Bayne (5), TLC (1)
SF- Michael Porter, Jr (18), Pat Connaughton (3)
PF- Mikal Bridges (15), Paul Reed (1)
C- Myles Turner (13), Cody Zeller (2)

I am a Ben Simmons believer if he has the right complementary players.